# % of people that are gay **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 5, 2003, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/of-people-that-are-gay/152821 "2003-02-05T00:25:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2003, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/of-people-that-are-gay/152821/41 "2003-02-07T18:17:18Z")
My numbers came from this site: [http://www.familyresearchinst.org/FRI\_AIM\_Talk.html](http://www.familyresearchinst.org/FRI_AIM_Talk.html) I know nothing about the numbers other than what is on the site, which seems more interested in debunking the Kinsey numbers than providing a definitive answer. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2003, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/of-people-that-are-gay/152821/42 "2003-02-07T18:36:30Z")
Thanks, **puddleglum**. Family Research Institute is an arm of Dobson’s Focus on the Family operation, and is emphatically anti-gay-movement in orientation; I’ve seen other material from them. Their number analysis does look intriguing, though. I saw a few minor flaws on first read-through, though: “gay couples” and use of gay bookstores as useful markers? “Facts” regarding Kinsey’s methodology were not totally valid – though the point that he did not practice good sociological sampling procedures _is_ true. Their own methodology is questionable – what does “probability based” mean in this context? And what definitions are they, and the studies they cite, using to define their categories? Please don’t hear this as pooh-poohing what you found – _any_ statistical study is going to have questions of this sort surrounding its methodology – any of us can “Monday-morning quarterback” with the best of them. ---
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2003, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/of-people-that-are-gay/152821/43 "2003-02-07T19:03:40Z")
If there are people interested in the percentages based on different definitions here is a pdf document that has different survey’s percentages and their definitions. The table is on page 48 and the one for lesbians is on the next page. [http://www.norc.uchicago.edu/library/sexual.pdf](http://www.norc.uchicago.edu/library/sexual.pdf) The percentages range from 1% who indentify themselves as gay to 6.5% who have had at least one male sexual partner in the last five years. For women the highest percentage is 3.6% for those who have had at least one female sexual partner in the last five years. A discussion of the numbers is found on pages 8-10 of the same document. ---
**Author:** ![man779977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/59ef9b/32.png) [@man779977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/man779977)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/of-people-that-are-gay/152821/44 "2003-02-13T01:45:07Z")
That is hard to figure because people dont know if being gay is gene-related or if its your upbringing that makes you gay or anything else. ---
**Author:** ![senor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5f8ce5/32.png) [@senor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/senor)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/of-people-that-are-gay/152821/45 "2003-02-13T01:58:53Z")
The real truth about HIV in the West is that they fall into two categories, gay men and drug addicts. With gay men, the more partners that you have sex with, the greater the chances of getting a disease. Gay men perform disgusting acts upon each other, and most all gay men have many numerous partners in their lifetime. The few hetrosexuals that get HIV get it because their partner had sex on the street with an addict or is bi-sexual. Many gays become addicts because they are ashamed of their lifestyle. So they turn to drugs for relief. Since homosexuals have no sexual limits, a gay addict will sell his body on the street. Then they will have sex with a marrried bisexual who will pass it on to his wife. This is the truth. The deal that HIV is everyone’s disease is pure BS. Africa has such a horrid HIV rate, among both gay and straight is that their sexual boundries are much broader than ours. Many people there are bisexual. Many indulge themselves in anal sex. Africans have no sense of moral sexual boundries like westerners. Same can be said for their counterparts in the US. How many people are gay? About 2%. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/of-people-that-are-gay/152821/46 "2003-02-13T02:10:56Z")
Well, here’s the straight dope on the self-reported sexual orientation of over 300 dopers! [Qadgop’s doper sexuality study](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=161783) In it you’ll see that 14% of the male responders and 9% of the female responders reported themselves as predominantly or entirely homosexual. Make of that what you will. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/of-people-that-are-gay/152821/47 "2003-02-13T11:45:47Z")
**senor** , your racist and homophobic outbursts are not welcome here. Your next transgression will be your last. bibliophage moderator GQ ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/of-people-that-are-gay/152821/48 "2003-02-13T13:13:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jiminy \* > \*\*According to the Gay City News, 20% of Americans \*\* I just had to respond, as I recently saw this rehashed here in my city. We have this local “underground” paper done by the University that printed that the number was “20%”. How did they arrive at it? Easy: 10% of men - 10% of women = 20% of Americans. Don’t you see? :rolleyes: [sub]Mind you, this is a University paper. If ever there was an argument for stricter math requirements to graduate…[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/of-people-that-are-gay/152821/49 "2003-02-13T15:56:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by 2trew \* > \*\*Let’s not forget that there’s another problem with survey evidence: people who are willing to respond to a survey about their sexual proclivities are the kind of people who don’t mind telling strangers about their sexual proclivities. It strikes me that this might tend to lead to a bad sample and give you an overly high percentage of just about anything. \*\* True, plus you have to factor in the people who are intentionally trying to skewer results…as a senior in HS we were asked to fill out an anon survey about druga and sexuality, which we were promised the results of wouldn’t be revealed to anyone. We knew they were lying, so a number of my classmates decided to make stuff up. The school board was quite worried that 48% of the senior class engaged in anal sex, and 30% used IV drugs 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/of-people-that-are-gay/152821/50 "2003-02-13T16:07:35Z")
[hijack] There was a poll of doper’s sexuality a month or so ago. Has anyone done statistics on that yet? Do we have a % gay for the dopers who responded [hijack] I myself am about 20% gay, so therefor 20% of people are gay 😉 Cheers Bippy [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/of-people-that-are-gay/152821.md?page=2)